In 1993 he played for Tokyo Verdy in the inaugural J-League season, helping them win the title and being named the league's Most Valuable Player.

His professional career will have lasted for 34 years by the time the season ends, but he is not an automatic starter at Yokohama and made nine league appearances last season, all as a substitute.

Miura is the oldest professional player to have scored a goal, a strike in 2017 breaking the long-standing record held by England's Stanley Matthews.

The 1993 Asian Player of the Year's 14 goals in qualification helped Japan qualify for their first-ever World Cup in 1998, but he was controversially left out of the tournament squad by coach Takeshi Okada.

It is unclear when he may choose to stop playing, and when he joined Yokohama in 2005 he said: "I know that I'm not young any more and I am finding the game a lot tougher physically, but I still get a lot of pleasure when my team wins or I play well.